Marlee will be entering third grade this year, which means that it is time to look at sleep-away camps this summer and find one for next summer. Now this may seem like an easy thing to do, but it really is not. I have a special summer camp lady Ann Travis who has been helping […]
School is winding down and I am really looking forward to summer. The past few weeks have been crazy busy with class picnics, plays and birthday celebrations. I have somehow managed to be at all my children’s events and still be there to nurse Dana every few hours. Sometimes I bring Dana along to the […]
Well, here I am, with a new baby — Dana. Marlee is now 7, and Bradley is 5. I also have an 11-year-old stepson, Jonah. My husband’s name is Rob. Then there’s me – Janet. My Sweet 16 was almost 24 years ago. I now have a full-time job working for my kids on the […]
Life with three kids is amazing and crazy. I am always running somewhere with one child or two or three. When my stepson Jonah comes down to visit it is an absolute madhouse here. The intensity in the apartment is insane. The noise just makes me want to jump out of my skin. I have […]
Dana is changing daily in her appearance and her sleep patterns. I understand why her appearance changes. She is nursing well and her arms, legs and, especially, her cheeks are filling out. There is just no pattern to her sleeping. I can’t get her on a schedule because each day is different. She wakes, naps, […]
Dana is fun! She is smiling a lot and truly is a happy baby. She is most chatty when she wakes up in the morning. It’s amazing that she wakes up smiling. I wish I could wake up that happy. After she wakes up, I nurse her and we talk for a bit. She really […]
I feel like an acrobat juggling two kids and a baby — and, of course, the husband — so it’s actually like having four children. I have managed to make it to work dinners, class trips and after-school activities. I am just thoroughly exhausted still. The night nurse is a big help but I just […]
I couldn’t take any more of those sleepless nights. Dana was miserable and screamed all day and night. She was inconsolable, constantly kicking her legs and wiggling in pain. I just knew that something was wrong with my baby. This was not just a fussy baby. I spoke with the pediatricians and they said that […]
I feel like this is my firstborn child. Everything that you are not supposed to do, I am doing. I have been nursing Dana to sleep or nursing her until we both fall asleep in my bed together. I have been rocking her to sleep or letting her sleep in her bouncy seat, stroller or […]
Baby nurse #2 came and went pretty quickly as well. This nurse was recommended to me through a friend. I checked up on her and she seemed like she would be a good fit for Dana and me. Well, I was completely wrong. She lasted six days and I would have gotten rid of her […]
I hired a night nurse just to help me get Dana to sleep before midnight and to help get her back to sleep in the middle of the night. Sometimes Dana was awake for hours and I found that I was rocking myself to sleep and not Dana. Our night nurse is a lovely woman […]
Can’t believe that Dana is finally here! I am so happy to have a little girl. My kids were so excited that I had a girl, too. I cried when Marlee and Bradley walked into the hospital room to see me and meet Dana. I was so overwhelmed with emotions when they walked in, and […]
Well, baby nurse #1 didn’t last too long. All she did was complain about how difficult a baby Dana was. The nurse was not very gentle with Dana either. She was also either on her cell phone all night or listening to music on her cell phone. I think part of the reason Dana did […]
Who can do that?
I haven’t slept since I had the baby! 2 weeks old and I need a vacation!
It’s a Girl! I have so much to write about. I just have very little time to write these days. The last time I wrote, I was in the middle of contractions. Now I am the mother of a beautiful new baby daughter. Her name is Dana Fay. She was named after my great aunt. […]
Went back to the doctor for my weekly checkup and still nothing’s happening. Not dilated or effaced. I thought for sure that something would be happening by now. No such luck. I will just have to endure at least two more weeks of waddling around, not sleeping and feeling like a slug. My husband, on […]
Bradley’s Boo-Boo The baby is still not ready to come out. I went to the doctor and found out that I had tested positive for Beta Strep. This means that I will have to have antibiotics in the hospital for at least four hours prior to giving birth. This will take care of the infection […]
What an exciting week! My husband and the children came with me for my weekly doctor appointment and had the opportunity to see my sonogram. Marlee was entranced with seeing the baby on the monitor. She understood everything that the doctor was showing us. Bradley had a bit of trouble; I think he thought it […]
Beading Torture We decided to have one last long-weekend getaway before the baby comes. We took the kids to Upstate New York for some freezing-cold weather, ice-skating and swimming. I personally went for the sleeping and eating. Well, that was all there was for me to do there. I enjoyed watching the children ice skate. […]
Countdown! Six weeks to go — I’m hoping it will be more like four weeks as I am so uncomfortable. I barely sleep more than two or two-and-a-half hours at a stretch each night. I awake constantly to go to the bathroom. I can barely breathe because I am so congested and our apartment is […]
The Nesting Stage Begins Well, it’s definitely time to start organizing and getting ready for the baby. This means making room or should I say taking away a room from my daughter, Marlee. She has kindly agreed to allow the baby nurse to sleep in her room with the baby. She will then sleep with […]
Real Relaxation The kids and I went to Florida from Puerto Rico to visit my parents. That is when I really got to relax and put my feet up. Marlee and Bradley are amazing to fly with and are so helpful. I guess we have been doing it long enough and so many times that […]
Off to the Beach Rob booked us on a flight that left at 8 am. Since I barely sleep, I should have just pulled an all-nighter like in my college days. We were up and out of the house by 5:30. We arrived in Puerto Rico midday and immediately headed to the pool only to […]
Bathing Suit Horror I’ve been busy packing and getting ready for our trip to Puerto Rico. We decided we needed a vacation spot that has direct flights and decent hospitals. Packing is never fun, but this time it really drained me. I had to go and buy a couple of things for two weeks of […]
If Men Had Babies … I went for another doctor’s appointment and, this time, I was pleasantly surprised when I got on the scale. I haven’t gained weight in the last three weeks. I finally slowed down a bit on my eating of junk food and all those sugar waters that are just loaded with […]
Thankful for Girlfriends! There are just so many fabulous and not-so-fabulous feelings and changes that happen throughout a pregnancy. I’m so happy that I don’t have to go through it alone. I am not talking about my understanding husband, Rob, who is always there for me. No, Rob just cannot understand anything about my body […]
Belly-dancing Baby There is nothing worse than waking up in the middle of the night and having to get out of bed and run around the bedroom trying to get rid of a cramp in my calf. Just as soon as I have managed to stretch out the cramp, another one appears in my foot. […]
The Start of the Holidays We had a full house this Thanksgiving weekend. My stepson was visiting, and we also had the pleasure of taking home the class guinea pig and hamster. As if I don’t have enough to take care of. Luckily my cat Josie was not too inquisitive or bothered by this. She […]
Sugar Baby I had a wonderful experience taking the glucose test this week. I drank the sweet-tasting orange drink in the morning and then headed over to the doctor’s office for the blood test. The concoction was not as bad as I thought it would be, nor was it as bad as most people say. […]
Sleepless in NYC When the kids come home from school, all I want to do is sleep. I feel badly about that, as I have not seen them all day. When my husband gets home from work – yes, you’ve guessed it – I just think about sleep. I think of sleep all day and […]
Ready to Jump Ship With all the excitement of having a baby, we have not really thought much about where the baby will sleep or live in our three-bedroom apartment. When I asked my daughter, Marlee, if she would like to share her room if the baby is a girl, she responded by telling me […]
Cookie Monster Headed to the doctor for my monthly checkup. She always says to come back in three to four weeks. I choose three weeks due to my neurotic behavior and fears that something must be wrong. I have had two healthy children and two easy pregnancies. I am not sure why I worry more […]
Great Timing I am feeling great and not old even though I turned the big 40 on October 20. My fabulous husband and children had planned the best weekend for me. I was able to sleep in late on my birthday. I awoke to find that the kids had made me beautiful cards – and […]
Love Those Kicks I arrived home from LA exhausted but happy to be home and see my children. They could not believe how big my belly has gotten. My son keeps lifting my top to check. He really seems excited about the baby now. They even got to feel the baby kick, and it made […]
Adventures in Cabo I was so excited to have my anatomy scan. My husband could not come with me, so I took my parents to see their future grandchild. It was so difficult to see the baby – all it really looked like was a gray-and-white blob, just a bunch of static on a screen. […]
The Best News I cannot believe how much has happened! After having a CVS at 13 weeks, I finally got all my results back. It took four extremely long weeks to hear the news I had anxiously been awaiting. All the results came back negative! My genetics counselor called me, and I’m sure she was […]
Well, here I am, having a baby again. Marlee is now 7, and Bradley is 5. I also have an 11-year-old stepson, Jonah. My husband’s name is Rob. Then there’s me – Janet. My Sweet 16 was almost 24 years ago. I now have a full-time job working for my kids on the Upper East […]